Englewood, Colo. — Dish Networks said Thursday that it, in association with partner nTelos, will expand the pilot fixed wireless broadband deployment, which began successfully in June.

Dish an nTelos will co-develop a fixed wireless broadband service that they plan to offer commercially on a limited trial basis in Virginia markets where the two companies have a high concentration of customers.

The trial markets include Roanoke, Staunton, Waynesboro and Charlottesville, Va.

The companies said they are targeting early 2014 for rollout, with trial services potentially reaching up to 500,000 homes.

“Results from the first phase of our trial were encouraging,” said James A. Hyde, nTelos Holdings CEO. “By combining forces and leveraging our collective assets, we have been able to successfully deliver fixed wireless broadband service with competitive throughput and speeds. Expanding the trial will give us the opportunity to stress test the network for coverage and reliability, and to further evaluate the viability of a full commercial launch.”

“Dish has unique capabilities to support fixed broadband and is excited to move to the next phase of this trial,” said Tom Cullen, Dish corporate development executive VP. “With nearly a fifth of U.S. households underserved by broadband, a fixed wireless solution could deliver an additional broadband option to millions of consumers.”

Following a similar approach used in the initial deployment, nTelos and Dish will install outdoor routers designed to receive a 2.5GHz LTE signal. These units are Ethernet connected to a wireless router in the home, facilitating broadband Internet access throughout the premises.